Method of making bolster and scale structures



Feb. 2, 1932. c. w. TILLMANNS ET AL 1,843,584

METHOD OF MAKING BOLSTER AND SCALE STRUCTURES Filed July 28, 1924 m m m m T W. L m

Patented Feb. 2, 1932 STATES PATENT CARL W. TILLM'ANN S, OF BRIDGEPORT, AND CARL SDI-IN, STRATFOBD, CONNECTICUT,

ASSIGNORS TO REMINGTON ARMS COMPANY, INCL, A CORPORATION DELAWARE METHOD OF MAKING BOLSTER AND SCALE STRUCTURES Application filed July 28, 1924. Serial No. 728,598.

This invention relates to cutlery and particularly to pocket knives of the type comprising lining or scale members which may line a blade containing recess and exteriorly support the handles. It is common practice to attach tips or bolsters to each exterior scale adjacent its ends, said bolsters and scale forming a shallow recess adapted to contain a handle of wood, bone, horn, pearl or other suitable substance.

One object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of making a bolster and scale structure.

A further object of the invention is to construct a combination bolster and scale.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved method of joining bolsters and scales.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method of constructing a bolster and scale in which said parts are formed and joined in one operation.

A further object of the invention is to construct a knife embodying a combination bolster and scale made as hereinafter described.

With these and other objects in view our invention consists in the novel processes, combinations and arrangements of parts which are illustrated in the drawings and will be hereinafter described.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 comprises an assembly view of the pieces from which the combination bolster and scale is formed, and a view of these parts ready for the forming operation.

Fig. 2 shows a plan and an elevation of the untrimmed combination bolster and scale as it comes from the forming press.

material of the desired thickness, trimmed, and perforated to receive a bolster securing rivet. Bolsters have been separately formed from bar stock, and a rivet, sometimes ii1tegral with the bolster, served to secure bol- 5 ster and scale together. In the practice of our invention the three processes offorming the bolster, forming the scale, and securing a bolster cover to the scale are performed simultaneously.

The scale forming stock consists of a length of wire or rod 5, preferablyof circular cross section. The wire may be of iron, brass, German silver, or. other desired material. The bolster covering parts 6, which may be of any 65. desired material, either the same as or different from the scale material, comprise cups which may be of circular section, adapted to fit loosely over the ends of the scale forming wire 5. While these cups may be prepared in any suitable manner we prefer to punch them from sheet stock in a cupping press, adapted to strike a circular blankfrom the sheet and to form said blank into a cup in one operation of the machine. I 7 5.

A cup 6 is placed on each end of the rod or wire 5, and this assembly is placed in a die of suitable configuration, in a punch press, and is formed by a single operation of the press into the combination bolster and scale blank shown in Fig. 2. Preferably the lower member of the die is recessed to the shape of the blank, and the upper member is substantiaL ly flat. The rod 5, except the end sections is flattened to form the scale proper. The ends of therod take the general shape of spherical segments 8 which form apart of the bolster. Segments8 are covered exceptat the face 10 adjacent the handle recess, by the material supplied by cups 6; which thus forms a cover 9'over both the ends of the inside of the scale and the outside of the bolster, as clearly shown in the sectional view, Fig. 4:. A part of the body of the bolster is thus integral with the scale, while the material forming the outside of the bolster completely surrounds the scale, and is formed on and simultaneously with the scale, thus insuring a firm and permanent connection between them.

Thebolster scale is finished to the form shown in Fig. 3 by one or two trimming or shaving operations, and is then ready for assembly with the other parts of a knife. A simple knife including a bolster scale embodying our invention is illustrated in Fig. 5.

The term scale as used in this specification and in the appended claims refers to a flat metallic member, adjacent to the blade containing recess of a pocket knife, and sometimes referred to as a liningflto which exterior grip members or handles are ordinarily secured.

Our invention is not to be considered as limited to the precise construction and meth- 0d of operation herein described, but is to be construed as covering all equivalent devices and methods falling within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim: v

1. In the manufacture of pocket knives, the method of making a unitary bolster and scale structure which comprises providing an assembly consisting of a suitable length of Wire or rod having cups loosely placed on the ends thereof, and forming from said assembly a unitary bolster and scale blank by a single operation of a suitable swaging press.

2. In the manufacture of pocket knives, the method of securing a bolster cover to a scale which comprises providing a scale forming element of relatively'great thickness, covering the ends of said scale forming element with a cup shaped bolster cover forming element, and joining said elements While forming them to approximately finished shape by a single operation of a swaging press.

3. In the manufacture of pocket knives, the method of securing a bolster cover to a scale which comprises providing a scale forming element of circular cross section, placing upon the end thereof a bolster cover forming element of circular cross section and simultaneously uniting said elements, and forming the unitary structure to approximately finished shape by a single operation of a swaging press.

4. In themanufacture of pocket knives, the method of making a bolster which comprises providing a cup of bolster covering material and a rod of bolster core forming material, applying said cup to the end of said rod and simultaneously uniting said elements, and forming the resulting structure to approximately finished shape by a single operation of a suitable swaging press.

5. In the manufacture of pocket knives, the method of making a unitary bolster and scale structure, which comprises swag-ing the scale portion of said structure from a bar and in the same operation swaging the bolster portion of said structure from a cup element positioned over the-end of said bar.

6. In the manufacture of pocket knives, the method of making abolster, which comprises providing a cup of bolster covering material 

